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Is an online business degree right for you?

Are you hoping to find a new career path? Getting your business degree online can open up all kinds of new possibilities! Schools all over the country offer online opportunities to earn your associate, bachelor’s, or even master’s business degree right from your home. What skills will these programs help you develop? How can you leverage those to start a new career? That’s what we’ll take a look at here!

Key Skills

Business degrees can vary widely in the specific skills they strive to teach you, but the basic components are often the same. Business programs will help you develop critical thinking and analytical skills; learn about organizational operations and management; increase your problem-solving, decision-making, and research prowess; and, of course, strengthen your communication skills.

Some degree programs may provide a narrower focus, say for marketing or for human resources, while others provide a broader overview of business concepts. This can allow you to either jump right in to master a niche you’ve already identified or to explore a wider industry before focusing on a particular path.

Program Lengths

The amount of time it will take you to complete a business degree program will depend on some variables, but average timelines are two years for an associate degree, four years for a bachelor’s degree, and two years for a master’s degree. If you’re working (either full- or part-time), have a family to care for, or have other obligations to meet, you may opt to take a lighter course load. This can help you avoid burnout and stay focused, but may mean that you’re in school longer. On the flip side, if your primary focus is your degree program, you may be able to enroll in an accelerated program and finish sooner than these averages.

Benefits of Online

One of the best benefits of choosing an online program instead of an on-campus education is the flexibility to control your schedule. While a traditional classroom program will require that you be in class at very specific times, online classes mean that you set your own hours! Complete a reading assignment before taking your kids to school in the morning, knock out a quiz during your lunch break at work, or study for that upcoming exam before you go to bed at night.

Online programs also provide a wide range of resources that are available at your fingertips 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Online forums with your peers, discussion boards with your professor or teaching assistants, and course content that you can re-watch or re-read as many times as you need to—you don’t have to panic about getting all those notes down before the chalkboard is erased.

Possible Career Paths

Having a business degree can prepare you for jobs as an analyst, an advisor, or a manager—or set you up for success in any number of specialized roles to support business functions like accounting, marketing, or sales. No matter what type of business you end up in, they’ll probably need someone who can provide administrative and management support. An online business degree can become a foundation for a successful career in just about any industry.

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The Imagine America Foundation (IAF) has been serving the career college community since 1982. IAF provides scholarships, awards, ﬁnancial aid information, sector research and faculty training; honors achievement in career education; and supports and promotes the beneﬁts of career colleges to the general public.